Volunteering at Fair Food, where no one is defined by dementia
- admin1356
- Jun 21
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 22
Every year as the mid-winter stars appear in the sky, West Auckland food waste charity Fair Food has a Matariki festival to celebrate the stars who make their organisation work.
The Young Onset Dementia Collective (YODC) has been volunteering at Fair Food every Monday for the past five months. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved. Fair Food receives food waste from supermarkets five days a week, but the kitchen wasn’t being used on a Monday.
When YODC started coming on Mondays it increased Fair Food’s productivity significantly.
With a regular group of volunteers and support people, the group is peeling, chopping and cooking enough food for 50+ families every Monday. Fair Food has over 70 charity partners and so now they’re able to send more food into the community where it’s needed.
As Fair Food General Manager, Michelle Blau said at the celebration, “they don’t want to be a growth industry but sadly the need to provide food to struggling families isn’t slowing”.
For the celebration, the Fair Food warehouse in Avondale was transformed as the YODC team arrived with their whanau for the evening celebration. Trestle tables filled the huge space as volunteers, charity partners and contributing businesses filled the room.
As the YODC team know well, no one leaves hungry from Fair Food but this evening the organisers had outdone themselves. There were beautiful fruit and cheese platters along every table, and a drinks table filled with all sorts of cans past their best before dates, along with a mountain of sweet treats, irresistible to the little ones in the room.
It was a generous evening with a message. All the good that Fair Food achieves comes from the generosity of its partners.
The Aussie Butcher New Lynn was awarded Fair Food’s Substantial Food Donor of the Year, while Kai Avondale was awarded Frontline Charity of the Year. But the biggest surprise came as the YODC team was named the 2025 Tupu-a-rangi Outstanding Volunteer of the Year.
“Fair Food has hundreds of volunteers but when we measured total volume, total output, range of food and consistency of volunteering one group kept coming up to the top of the list and that was the volunteer group, The Young Onset Dementia Collective.” – Michelle Blau, Fair Food General Manager
Michelle Blau said it was tough to pick a winner out of all the volunteers who donate their time, but when it comes to consistency and productivity, it was no contest.
She invited all the team up to receive their certificates along with a gift presented by the 2024 Fair Food Volunteer of the Year and very ‘Good Sort’, Mandy Everill.
YODC member Anita told the room how much Fair Food meant to everyone in the group.
“I’ve made friends I never thought I’d be making,” she said. “We’ve worked together to be the best people we can be so thank you for letting us be involved in this amazing organisation.”
But it was Mal who surprised and delighted with an off-the-cuff speech that delivered a real one two punch.
“This place when I first walked in here, I thought what the heck’s going on?” said Mal with his characteristic dry humour. But he continued, “Everybody that works here should feel very proud of themselves because it’s a great thing to do for other people.”
Such a simple sentiment but delivered with emotion, Mal left more than a few people reaching for tissues.
For the families of the YODC volunteers it was especially meaningful. Being able to see what their loved ones were taking part in and how worthwhile their contribution was each week was poignant.
And once again, it proved how essential YODC is in building connections and lines of support for the wider families.
Tevita’s (YODC Ambassador) wife Sharlene spent time connecting with newer team member Tony and his wife Annette and discovered that her family and Tony’s are both from the same village in Tonga.
The evening was capped off with a delicious hangi that had been beautifully prepared by Rangeview and Kelston Intermediate students, thanks once again to the generosity of the Aussie Butcher New Lynn.
With bellies full and waist bands straining, YODC left exactly as Mal had said - proud of their role at Fair Food, grateful for the friendships they’ve made and honoured to share it with their families.
And ready to return to the kitchen on Monday.
Watch the video below
Also of interest – Feeling Good, Doing Good – The Power of Community
Fair Food is Auckland’s original food rescue charity, turning surplus food into shared meals. Each week, they redirect good food from landfill to community groups across the region, feeding thousands and reducing waste. Their kitchen in Avondale is a hub of inclusive volunteering, where people of all backgrounds — including those with lived experience of dementia through Young Onset Dementia Collective — prepare hundreds of fresh meals for whanau doing it tough.
YOUR DONATION will HELP US HELP OURSELVES.
Getting help needed is a living challenge for the group behind Young Onset Dementia Collective.
If we wait for Government, Ministry of Health or under-funded agencies, it will be too little too late for our people.
For many the situation is dire. Help is needed NOW so we made a collective conscious decision to do everything we can to help ourselves. Spouses, partners, carers of people living with younger onset dementia have real life reasons driving combined determination.
Help us keep minds engaged and spirits lifted for those affected. Plus support carers in their financial, mental and wellbeing journey.
